interview with Hannah Bothman

 ( I met Hannah at a conference last year. Meeting her was a huge-extra-mega  blessing as I learnt so many things from her. She has an interesting personality and  she is a very honest goldy young woman who doesn't hide her struggle in her walk with the Lord Jesus. I must admit that I enjoy talking to her through facebook . This is what she has to say about love...)

what do you think love is?

1 Cor 13:1-13 says it perfectly..

 How  can you describe your relationship with God?

 My relationship with God is like that of a father daughter really... I love Him, we talk to each other, I read his word (which is where he gives me advice), he rebukes me in love, and I enjoy learning more and more about him everyday.

How did you know that Deon was the one? Did God give you a Bible verse?

I really liked hanging out with him and our friendship was great... but I had made a decision to not date anyone until I knew it was for marriage. So I started looking at him as a long term thing... I looked for the annoying things, how he handled situations, ect.. While doing all of this I began praying and seeking the Lord on what he wanted. I didn't receive a specific bible verse, but the Lord did reveal a lot through me in the scriptures about other things in my life while I was weeking Him about Deon.hmm.. We became best friends within 2 weeks, he was fun and we had a great time together! I was definitely physically attracted to him from the beginning, but his character began to shine through more and more the closer we got as friends.. then I realized I had developed feelings for him.

What did you learn during your "single year"?

I think I learned to rely solely on the Lord. Me and Deon dated for 6 months, then I went back to the US for 8 (during the 6 month we got engaged. It was a massive step in my walk with the Lord because I knew I was going to end up with Deon but I didn't have plans to see him again. It took a lot of faith and trust in the Lord, and I learn to put Him first in everything... Once I did that, I had peace.. then before I knew it I was back in SA getting married!

 Any advice to girls?

WAIT on the Lord!!!! Truly seek him, and long to have an amazing relationship with Him first... then you can pray about a guy! :)

 Your opinion on purity

No sex until marriage... I am so glad that I didn't before I married Deon, but also if you have messed up, there is forgiveness and renewing in the Lord.

God bless

Interview with Annamé

( My friend anname got engagedfew month ago to her best friend Anthon. The Lord put her name in my heart when I was praying and looking for people to interview. She loves the Lord Jesus Christ very much and she is living a life completely sold out to Him!
I hope and I pray that this will challenge you and give you another perspective about waiting on the Lord)

How and when did you meet your fiancé Anthon?

H studied with my brother and played in a band that we both loved. For my brother's 21st, I organised a surprise party with Anton's band to play at our house. We needed to organise the party which obviously meant he had to come and 'see the space' ;) and the rest is history...

How did the Lord confirm that he was the one?

We became good friends since we started spending time together. As soon as we realised that we have deep feelings for each other, we started praying about our relationship and where it is heading.The Lord just gave us peace about our love for each other and He caused it to grow deeper and stronger.Anton and I are best friends and we do everything together. I can speak to him about anything and he knows me better than I know myself sometimes.We make an awesome team! :)

Wat does waiting on the lord mean to you?

To wait on the Lord is to give control over to Him. You have to trust that your Heavenly Father has your best interests at heart and that He knows what's best for you in every way.If you truly believe these things, it is much easier to wait on Him and to rest in Him than it is to try and do things by your own power.You need faith to have patience. You need to know what it is you are waiting for. This scripture comes to mind: Romans 10:17"So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."Study the Word for guidance and encouragement. Wait on the Lord and trust Him.I believe God puts certain desires in our hearts, and this is good.

Should young women follow their hearts?

I will never advise anyone to blindly follow their hearts. askthe Lord to always keep your desires in line with the Word and in line with His will. Ask Him to remove those desires that are not of Him, and if this means giving up a boy you like, then so be it. A boy can never fill your heart the way Jesus does.Single girls, you are precious! Never feel unworthy because you are single! There is a very good reason why the Lord hasn't given you someone yet. Find out what He wants you to focus on, and put all your energy into serving Him.Once you have that special someone in your life, it's very easy to lose focus.This time is very special, spend every minute with the Lord!In His good time, He will bless you with a friend who loves Him more than anything.

Your opinion about dating unbelievers?

I would never recommend dating an unbeliever. And if you are dating one now, you need to seriously pray about it and be willing to hear what the Lord has to say. You need someone who will help you and build you up in your walk with the Lord. Girls, he needs to be the spiritual leader, not you.Like I said, pray about it and be ready to follow the Lord's instruction, however difficult it may be.

By the way, how did Anthon propose?

We had our family Christmas dinner a few days before the 25th, and it so happened that I would be alone
on Christmas. I suggested that Anton&I hand out our gifts that evening on our own. We had a whole plan set up: we were gonna have dinner and then exchange gifts and then watch his favourite Christmas movie: Home Alone.I gave him his gift (which seems very boring now,compared to his!), and then he told me to go sit on the couch. I was a bit puzzled..until he got down on one knee and took out the little box from under the couch. I can't remember much after that, except that I couldn't stop crying and tried to explain that I'm really not crying because I'm sad!That was my best Christmas so far.

God bless

Love challenge part 3

Hello dear readers,  this is the third and final part of ‘the love challenge’. I have absolutely loved writing this up for you all! I have learnt so much from it myself and it has challenged me in so many ways. I hope that’s it’s done the same for you. So I’m going to finish my study Romans 12:9-12, picking up where we left off in part 2.  Just to refresh your memory, here is the passage again.

Romans 12:9-21 :"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “it is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

"Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody":  I think we all know that this if far easier said than done. It is really hard to make sure everyone is always happy! To make sure that EVERYBODY will be happy with EVERYTHING we do,It seems like an impossible task . None of us are perfect, or ever will be 100% perfect.. We must always put others before ourselves, we must think before we do anything, think about what effect our actions will have on those around us. It’s hard, and often times we do things without really thinking about it first, but it’s something to work on for God, who has done so much for us already.

"If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone”: As I said before, we are not perfect and not everything we do is going to please  everyone. That’s why in this verse it says ‘if possible’, because sometimes it just isn’t possible. Especially with those who aren’t saved and don’t understand. If there is tension between you and someone else, try sort it out, go in peace and ask the Lord Jesus to help you to love that person. If  theydon’t accept it, but then we can at least say we tried and we keep prayimg for them. And that’s all God wants from us. He KNOWS that it’s not always possible, otherwise He wouldn’t have said so.

This whole last section ties in together; “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘it is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on him head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Here, God is basically speaking against revenge. So many people have the desire to ‘pay someone back’ for something they’ve done to them, but that is exactly what God tells us NOT to do! He asks us  to be kind to them, to feed them when they are hungry, give them a drink when they are thirsty.  He  also says that by showing kindness we are ‘heaping burning coals on his head.’

 I don’t know about you, but I have felt the ‘the burning coals’ before. When  I was young I has a friend who used to annoy me, but she  didn’t even know that she was being annoying, then I decided that I was going  to annoy her too, and make her life miserable. In return, she showed me love. Every time I tried to do something to hurt her feelings, she was kind to me! I was so frustrated.Sadly, I know  exactly what God means by His statement!

We sometimes feel like the whole world is out to get us, and love seems out of the questions, but John 15:18-19 says; “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” The world really doesn’t like us! And in return we need to show love. 

"Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good": God has love for everyone, for us, who are just as much a sinner as everybody else. So now we need to do the same. We need to show love, the way it is described in Romans 12:9-21. Everything we have just learned, we need to now go and put it into practice. We need to love others, always remembering our first love, the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything we do should be out of love to Him. And by loving Him, everything else will fall into place. Romans 8:28 says; ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.’ God’s got it covered; all we have to do is listen to Him and obey. He’s given us all the instructions needed, it’s now our time to use them.

God bless

paige Strauss

love challenge part 2

I’ve been pondering a lot on love lately, especially since I’m writing this series for you all. I must say it has been a challenge for sure. Every day there are so many things that have challenged me, and I have not passed all of them sadly. But by not passing them, it makes me want to try even harder for the next time it comes up, and that’s the beauty of God’s love. When we fail He doesn’t give up on us, just the opposite actually! He LOVES us. He is the ultimate example of love, and we should strive to love like He loves.
 In John 15:12 says; “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends.”

So I’m carrying on with Romans 12:9-21, from where we left off in Part I. if you never read it, I encourage you to please do that before continuing on here!

Romans 12:9-21 "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “it is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”
By the end of this series you should know this passage backwards and forwards.


So, how many of you like to share? It’s great when others share with you, but when it’s the other way round… not so easy. God says to ‘share with God’s people who are in need’. That is a part of the love challenge. Yup, sharing! By sharing with someone, you are showing them love. In quite a big way ! It could make a huge impact on someone without you even realizing it. Sharing ‘stuff’ is one way to see that verse, but another way to see it is by sharing ‘the good news’. Tell people about Jesus! Share the word with them! That is showing love, and in the process God might use you to save someone’s life.


"To practice hospitality":  is a small, sweet reminder to be kind to those who are in your ‘territory’. Whether it is in your home or even at your church, show them love and kindness, make them feel at home.

 "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse": People in this world can be mean; they can hurt you; intentionally OR unintentionally. It can be hard, and it hurts, but when they hurt us, it is not our place to curse them, or be mean to them. We must love them, pray for them. BLESS them. Luke 6:35 says; ”But  love your enemies, do good to them, and lend them without  expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”

"Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another": This is pretty straight forward. But yet sometimes it is tough. To ‘mourn with those who mourn’ is something that we sometimes would rather not do. Just because they are sad, why should I be sad?! But seriously, when you are sad, you will be most grateful to have someone there with you. And another problem is that when your friends or family are going through tough times, it’s SO easy to say ‘God has a plan in this’, or ‘don’t worry about it, trust God’. They think, well it’s easy for YOU to say. Guys, be there WITH them. It will help them more. Live in harmony, not in different tunes.


"Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position"  Pride, That ugly thing called pride. It is such a struggle in so many of us. I encourage you, at school, church, or wherever you are, don’t stick with the ‘cool’ guys. Go hang out with the ‘not so cool’, the ‘unpopular’. It would mean the world to them! And it would be a HUGE, proclamation of God’s love and people will see. Some might think you are being weird, but God will be proud of you. And you will find that the ones that seem the most hopeless are the ones that need to be reached out to the most. They need love, they need hope. Put your pride away and go to them.


 "Do not be conceited. Do not repay evil for evil." To be ‘conceited’, means to be ‘proud of yourself’. So pride has been brought up once again. It is clearly something that God highly disapproves of and keeps reminding us.

And "do not repay evil for evil" is hard for many. Revenge,  Aah, sweet revenge. It’s built in humans to want to pay someone back for what they’ve done to us. But God tells us not to. If we do exactly what they did to us, then we are no less guilty than them. Show them kindness and pour God’s affection on them so they may see His love through you.

Matthew 5:16 “in the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven.”



I hope and pray that you are blessed and encouraged by this amazing passage=]

Never forget that God loves you, and He blesses and guides every season of your life. He has done so much for you .
God bless
Paige Strauss





Stay tuned for part 3